News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

'Govt lax about RTE provisions'

PUNE:
The Maharashtra State Federation of Educational Institutions on Friday
alleged that the state government was 'highly ignorant' about the
provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and has been lax in
its implementation.

P A Inamdar, president of Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society,
who was present at the press conference, said, "The government has been
extremely lax in implementing the rules of the act in the state. The
deadline is approaching fast and there seems to be a very casual
approach in meeting it."

The federation felt that several schools in the state lacked necessary infrastructure as per the norms laid down in the RTE.

The federation also raised issues educational institutions
were facing about the 25 % seat reservation scheme under RTE wherein
institutions were directed to admit students from economically weaker
sections of the society.

"We are not opposing this rule.
However, the responsibility of the government in implementing it has not
been outlined, so far. The issue of reimbursement of fees of the students admitted still remains unclear," said V N Patil, president of the federation.

"Besides reimbursement of fees, the issue of transportation of these
students from home to school and back also remains unclear. The
government has also not clarified how much fees will be reimbursed for admission under the 25 % quota," Patil added.

The federation has demanded that the reimbursement should be as per the
fees policy of every school. Patil said, "There are schools which
charge high fees as they provide top class infrastructure. Hence, the
reimbursement should also be made accordingly. It should not be
standardized for all schools, as it would be unjust for school which
provide state-of-the-art learning and infrastructure facilities."